With hundreds of thousands of people streaming through the doors of Apple's retail outlets around the world each day, the company has reportedly turned to high-tech "sniffers" in an effort to keep the stores' air fresh and odors at bay.

Apple's Santa Monica store

The revelation came from employees of Apple's Third Street Promenade store in Santa Monica, a shop that opened in 2012. The store is said to reek of body odor --?particularly in the early morning -- as noted by The Street's Rocco Pendola.

According to one store employee who spoke to Pendola, the problem is caused by the relatively high locations of sniffers in the store's walls. The sniffers are sensors which monitor the store's air --?checking for the presence of gases like carbon monoxide --?and trigger the ventilation system based on those readings.

Ventilation industry professionals use similar systems to diagnose problems with air conditioning systems in homes, businesses, and schools. Those devices, sometimes called "electronic noses," sense normal atmospheric gases as well as sometimes foul-smelling chemicals called volatile organic compounds.

The "sniffers" used to monitor the store's air quality Source: The Street

Pendola speculates that the issue in the Santa Monica store may have been overlooked during the management transition from former retail chief Ron Johnson to the now-fired John Browett. The division, which is currently without a senior-level leader, will soon report to current Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts who will move into a new role at Apple later this spring.

While the report notes that complaints of foul odors have surfaced in the past in other Apple retail stores, AppleInsider has been unable to confirm any similar cases in existing shops, perhaps indicating that sniffers in those locations are doing their job. Recent Visits to the company's busy outlets in Hong Kong and New York yielded no olfactory offenses.

I'm not sure about the odor, but there is a terrible echo in the new Santa Monica store (pictured above). Sound bounces off of every wall and the glass ceiling. I feel like I'm in a tunnel with 50+ other people talking at once.Edited by rosujin - 1/31/14 at 10:07am

I don't get it. Why would it stink early in the morning when the store was (presumably) closed all night? Shouldn't it stink more during the day or late in the day after it's been filled with people in a relatively warm climate? Do they have minimum wage security guards sitting in the store at night who might not be able to afford to clean their uniforms often enough?

Aside from that possibility, if it stinks early in the morning, it's probably not body odor - it's probably an inherent smell from the fixtures, ceiling, insulation, etc., that just happens to smell like b.o. It's probably happening because the air is not getting circulated at night. Burning insulation can also sometimes smell like b.o. Or, if the store uses a water-cooled air conditioning system, it could be stagnant water sitting somewhere in the system. Or it could be the equivalent of "new car smell". Hopefully, it's not the smell coming from formaldehyde being formed by cheaply made furniture, although since there's not a soft cushion anywhere in an Apple Store, that would be doubtful.

In not sure about the odor, but there is a terrible echo in the new Santa Monica store (pictured above). Sound bounces off of every wall and the glass ceiling. I feel like I'm in a tunnel with 50+ other people talking at once.

That's true in the Lincoln Square store in Manhattan as well. It's all large spaces and all hard surfaces: the tables are wood, the floors are concrete, the walls are stone and the ceiling and fronts are glass. There's absolutely nothing to absorb sound (aside from customers). When the first phone with Siri was released, I went in there to try it out and it was impossible, due to the noise. They need to put up cloth acoustic panels on the walls in random patterns. That won't solve it all, but it will make it somewhat better.

I once thought I heard a live band playing in the basement of the Lincoln Square store. I went down there and it was just a loud iPod player accessory. That's how much everything gets amplified by the acoustics.

Apple likes to think of itself as paying attention to the tiniest details, but they did not pay any attention to the acoustic design of this store model.

As I understood things, this technology is pretty poor at the moment. I was investigating 'electronic noses' some time ago and smell characterisation was awful then. You could only basically detect the particle count and distribution, rather than inferring anything about the actual smell.

Maybe it's been significantly improved since then, if so I want one for my house too!

I work down the street from the Santa Monica store and I've noticed that issue. You find the same issue at the Santa Monica Library as well. But at both places you have homeless folks who wander in to use the computers.

The issue isn't generally a problem at the Apple store -- I've only noticed the issue a couple of times. But the library is a gathering spot for our homeless and the library has their security folks making sure street people don't sleep in the chairs or bring their baggage in.Edited by TimT999 - 1/31/14 at 9:15am

Anybody wanna explain how the millions of stores across this country manage to… Wait, just explain how the other stores (actually, the store to the left, and the store to the right of this Apple store, manage to avoid this problem?

As someone else mentioned, there are MANY homeless people near the Santa Monica store shd the Applestore has become the place where everyone checks their gmail / Facebook.

But, one other thing I noticed about that store is that there are many people there who love their dogs a little too much. I saw a guy who thought it was totally fine let his chihuahua stand one one the table while he demoed a laptop. Not very hygienic since his paws have been collecting germs from all over the streets of Santa Monica all day long!

They should totally have a hand sanitizer machine at the door of every Applestore.

Aside from that possibility, if it stinks early in the morning, it's probably not body odor - it's probably an inherent smell from the fixtures, ceiling, insulation, etc., that just happens to smell like b.o.

They are also only at most a half a mile from the ocean. That area often smells like oil, dead fish etc depending on the wind direction.

Cute, but I was referring to the fact that an employee allegedly commented on store design and functionality. Apple is very 'keep your mouth shut' even about such things. Double if you are making a negative comment

Cute, but I was referring to the fact that an employee allegedly commented on store design and functionality. Apple is very 'keep your mouth shut' even about such things. Double if you are making a negative comment

Maybe if there was a Apple branded body wash and laundry detergent the hipsters would buy it.

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" Mark Twain"Just because something is deemed the law doesn't make it just" - SolipsismX